Jedi sword technology: how was a laser sword made?

An elegant weapon... from a more civilized era. This is how the lightsaber was introduced to viewers about 40 years ago. Being an invariable element of any Jedi's entourage, the glowing sword was kept in the galactic republic for millennia. Since its first public appearance in 1977 when the first Star Wars film was released, the distinctive buzz of the lightsaber and the epic battle between Darth Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi have long been etched in the minds of audiences. A senior scientist at Fermilab is working on realistic options for bringing a lightsaber to life. And, as Don Lincoln tells it, he will definitely appear.

Build a lightsaber

Given the impact of the Star Wars franchise on society, it was inevitable that there would be a segment of society that wanted to make a lightsaber and even train with it. But what technology could form its basis? This is where the first attempts to reverse engineer this device began. Reverse engineering, in this context, is thinking about how it can be done... rather than building one such sword.

Admit it, it would be nice to get such a sword as a New Year's gift. But Star Wars, after all, is science fiction. What could scientists and engineers do to build such a sword (on the screen it is, of course, beautiful, but limiting the laser beam in this way is almost impossible).

In the film, lightsaber blades are shown to stretch 1.2 meters in length. They definitely contain colossal amounts of energy and can melt huge amounts of metal. This weapon clearly has a powerful and compact power source. They can cut flesh without any difficulty, but their handles are not particularly hot to burn the hand holding them. The two lightsabers don't go right through each other, and the blades also come in different colors.

Given the name and appearance, the first obvious thought is that these lightsabers probably include some type of laser. But this hypothesis is easy to exclude. Lasers do not have a fixed length, which is easy to check with a simple laser pointer. Additionally, unless the light is somehow scattered, the laser beam is essentially invisible. None of these characteristics describe our sword.

DIY Jedi sword.

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In our fast-moving times, when electronics have penetrated absolutely all spheres of everyday life, and life without it seems impossible, we have to note with regret its rapid aging. Literally every day new, more functional devices are born, and old ones become bulky, do not meet the spirit of the times, and turn into electronic trash.

But the imagination of folk craftsmen is boundless. Through their efforts, a new industry emerged, which received its name - wastetronics. Along with the manufacture of new blocks and assemblies from obsolete parts, which requires the necessary technical knowledge and skills, wastetronics also includes the decoration of various products and clothing, bright colorful electronic little things - batteries, floppy disks, parts of circuit boards and hard drives. In the 90s, singer Lika’s pop costume was decorated with two floppy disks. Then it seemed very bold, original, shocking and beautiful.

The time has passed when the iridescent floppy disk itself was a decoration. The Internet has opened up endless expanses of information for people; in it one can find both an answer to any question and an endless number of ideas and proposals for the use of outdated things, including electronic parts. A visit to the wastetronics website leaves you dumbfounded. What an interesting world map made from electronic waste.

Actually, if you do not use outdated parts and blocks directly for their intended purpose, that is, do not create a new electronic gadget, which requires special education, but rely only on the color and graphic aspects of the parts, then you can make any thing that will relate to wastetronics and rightfully called an electronic craft. Pencil cases and stands for pencils and pens, stands for the same electronic models, all kinds of flower pots, and even Christmas tree decorations that will not at all disturb the Christmas tree design that has developed over the years.

Isn’t “La Gioconda”, created from electronic trifles, worthy of attention? You can make any painting, repeat any photograph, take a self-portrait. All this is facilitated by the great variety and variety in size and color of obsolete parts. No special technical knowledge is required here; all that is required is creative imagination and artistic taste. The same principles apply that florists use when making paintings from petals, and mosaic artists use when creating panels.

In addition, practical things needed in everyday life can be made from electronic waste, such as wall hooks and clothes hangers, the durability and strength of which are guaranteed by the materials (all the latest achievements of science and technology are used in electronics). You can even make cool shoes - sneakers.

The production of toys occupies a special place in wastetronics. How will a father’s authority increase after making a functioning (walking, flashing, glowing) toy? Toys and compositions made from LED lamps are very beautiful; they are especially appropriate during the New Year holidays.

Any child will be delighted with a glowing wizard's wand or a Jedi's sword. It's great when a person can create an electronic craft himself, but most require instructions. Therefore, here is a step-by-step process for creating a sword of light:

To create the Jedi Sword you will need the following:

hacksaw and plastic cutter;
drill with drills;
soldering iron;
plastic tube for the handle, length – 30 cm and diameter about 3.5 cm;
a button that will be responsible for turning the sword on and off;
AA batteries from 2 to 4 pieces;
polycarbonate pipe from which the sword blade will be made - 76 cm long and 2 cm in diameter;
resistor and 22 gauge wire with one strand;
motor and bicycle tubes.

The total length of the sword will be about 110 cm. The handle can be made of any suitable material, while the blade of the sword is better made of an opaque material - this will prevent the scattering of light inside.

2. Making a handle. Paint the prepared plastic tube with a diameter of 3.5 cm. To make it easier to grip the sword, you can use a bicycle tube, which you need to wrap around the place for your hand. The remainder of the chamber can be used to make a belt for a sword.

Battery socket. To place the switch in the handle, select a location and drill a hole. The battery socket is cut out using a cutter at the bottom.
Glowing sword blade. The polycarbonate tube is processed with a hacksaw. The goal is to achieve absolute opacity; the pipe will be matte white. They go over the blade with sandpaper. In the second option, after selecting the base and peak of the sword, the entire blade is wrapped with tape.
LED element. To create it, you need to make a sequential string of LEDs so that the sword glows along its entire length. The wires must be stripped of their insulating sheath. The positive and negative parts are tied into their own ropes. The work must be carried out carefully, avoiding breaks in the circuit. Next, the chain is wound around a stick with foil to reflect light inside the blade.

Working with electronic parts of a sword. To create sound from a working sword, you need to attach wires to the motor. The mounting method is determined by the size of the motor. The switch is placed in the hole and the wires are soldered to it. We solder a 10 Ohm resistor to the motor. We solder the wires in all parts in accordance with the minus and plus. And we place this entire structure in the handle of the sword.

The sword may not glow when turned on for the first time - this indicates incorrect assembly. If all the elements are connected correctly, then we get a real Jedi Sword.

Plasma blades?

A more realistic technology would be plasma. Such material is created after knocking out electrons from gas atoms, in a process called ionization. Plasma is the fourth state of matter, after the well-known solid, liquid and gaseous states. You have also seen many examples of plasma in your life. The glow of fluorescent light is plasma, neon lights too.

This plasma feels quite cold because you can touch the tube without burning your fingers. But plasma is usually hot, with temperatures of several thousand degrees. However, the gas density in a fluorescent light tube is so low that even at high temperatures, the total amount of heat energy is very low. An additional complication is that the electrons in the plasma have much higher energy than the ionized atoms from which the electrons came. The thermal energy of a cup of coffee (which is much cooler) is significantly higher than the energy contained in fluorescent light.

Some plasma, however, produces significant heat. In plasmatrons. The principle of their operation is the same as that of a light bulb, but with a larger amount of electric current. There are many ways to make a plasma torch, but the simplest involves two electrodes and a conductive material, usually a gas like oxygen, nitrogen or something. The high voltage across the electrodes ionizes the gas, turning it into plasma.

Because plasma is electrically conductive, it can transfer a powerful electrical current to the target material, heating it and melting it. This device is called a plasma cutter, but in reality it is an electric arc (welding), and the plasma acts as a conductor of electric current. Most plasma cutters work well when the material being cut is conductive, as the material can then complete a circuit and send electrical current back to the device through the cable connecting the cutter to the target. There are also double cutters, between which electricity passes, they allow you to cut non-conductive materials.

So, plasma torches can generate areas of intense heat, but require huge amounts of electrical current, and lightsabers don't seem to be able to provide that kind of current. Maybe then lightsabers are just tubes of super-hot plasma? Not either, since plasma acts as a hot gas that expands and cools, like ordinary fire (which is also often plasma, if only because it glows). Thus, if plasma is to be the basis of a lightsaber, it will need to be contained in something.

Fortunately, such a mechanism exists. Plasma consisting of charged particles (at high speed) can be controlled by magnetic fields. In fact, some of the most promising nuclear fusion technologies use magnetic fields to confine plasma. The temperature and total energy contained in the synthesized plasma is so high that it would melt even the metal vessel containing it.

Perhaps lightsabers will do. Strong magnetic fields coupled with super-hot and dense plasma offer a possible way to create a lightsaber. But we're not done yet.

If we take two plasma tubes that are held magnetically, they will pass right through each other... there will be no epic duels. So we need to figure out how to make swords have a hard core. And the material from which it will consist must be resistant to high temperatures.

A ceramic that can be exposed to high temperatures without melting, softening or warping may be suitable. But the solid ceramic core has a problem: when the Jedi is not using the sword, it hangs from his belt, and the hilt is 20-25 centimeters long. The ceramic core should jump out of the handle like a jack-in-the-box.

If you don't have time to create a sword

If you don’t have extra time, perseverance or materials, but still want to please yourself or your loved one with an interesting gift, you can order a real laser sword. The Americans have come up with a wonderful sword, the heart of which is a real laser. A weak red sword costs about 1800 rubles, and a powerful green one costs 4800. It has a comfortable handle, stunning design and a built-in pressure sensor. The weight of such a weapon is about one kilogram.

You can make your own Jedi sword in a variety of ways. Some require nothing more than a flashlight and simple paper, others will require many skills from you (knowledge in the field of electricity, soldering, and so on). Every fan of a star film can independently choose the option that is suitable for him.

Build a lightsaber

DIY Jedi sword.

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Plasma blades?

If you don't have time to create a sword